Kara Gavin
Research and Policy Media Relations Manager
Gavin draws on more than 25 years of experience in communicating about science, medicine and health policy. She focuses mainly on the health services research done by members of the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, who work to understand and improve the safety, quality, equity and affordability of health care. As part of the Michigan Medicine communication team, she has lead responsibility for primary care and mental health topics. Contact: [email protected]; Twitter: @Karag
Health Lab
1 in 8 Americans over 50 show signs of food addiction
Highly processed foods can act on the brain in ways that spark cravings, emotional reactions and signs of addiction, and a new poll shows how many older adults experience this.
Health Lab
Got questions about weight-loss drugs? These experts have answers
Courtney Weirauch didn’t know what lymphangioleiomyomatosis was – but she quickly learned about the rare lung condition and how it would impact her life.
Health Lab
Support from others in stressful times can ease impact of genetic depression risk
Stress can interact with genetic vulnerability to depression, and with added or lacking support from friends and family, to affect depressive symptoms.
Health Lab
Health insurance changes are coming – don’t get caught without coverage
An “unwinding” of pandemic-era policies for Medicaid and other insurance programs for low-income people means millions of people have to submit information about their incomes or get new insurance plans
Health Lab
Peek inside a bank full of priceless gifts
Blood banks need constant supply of deposits to meet the needs of patients with cancer, traumatic injuries, failing organs, blood diseases and more.
Health Lab
Suicidal teens and other kids in mental health crisis languish in ERs
Children and teens experiencing mental health emergencies wait longer for care than those with non-mental emergencies.
Health Lab
Cost concerns keep older adults from seeking emergency care
People in their pre-Medicare years, especially those uninsured or with low incomes, are most likely to skip a trip to the ER because of what they might have to pay.
Health Lab
Most older adults are wary of mixing health care and religion or spirituality, poll finds
But majority see role for health care providers in finding meaning or hope in the face of illness, and are comfortable discussing their beliefs with their providers.
Health Lab
“Sandwich generation” study shows challenges of caring for both kids and aging parents
Millions of American caregivers are part of a sandwich generation caring for aging parents and children. A new study shows the stress they’re under.
Health Lab
No advantage to Medicare Advantage seen in heart attack survival
The gap in this key outcome for traditional and private-insurer Medicare participants has narrowed in recent years, though differences remain in care during and after hospitalization.
Health Lab
Tailored approach makes inroads in rural firearm safe storage
Rural gun-owning families responded favorably to a customized intervention to increase safe storage of rifles, handguns and other firearms in homes with children.
Health Lab
Firearm injuries in kids leave lasting mental scars, study finds
New mental health diagnoses are common after a firearm injury or a motor vehicle crash injury in children and teens, but more common in those who have been shot.
Health Lab
Homelessness, hospitals and mental health: Study shows impacts and costs
Housing status isn’t always recorded in medical records, so researchers say new data are likely just the “tip of the iceberg”.
Health Lab
Major financial pain follows major injury, study says
Medical debt in collections and bankruptcy much higher in working-age adults after hospitalization for traumatic injury, suggesting need for strategies to reduce financial burden.
Health Lab
Smoking, drinking means higher surgery risks, but health coaching before surgery could help
Reoperations, readmissions, surgery complications and emergency visits highest among surgery patients with risky drinking and smoking, but raising awareness of alcohol related surgery risk can reduce use.
